A legacy in PET
PTI celebrates 40 years by revitalising the profile of its light Dromo bottle and raising awareness of its breadth of services
Plastic Technologies, Inc (PTI) in 2025 celebrates the 40th anniversary of its foundation in 1985 by Thomas E. Brady, PhD, who led development of PET bottle technology from 1971 to 1984 at Owens-Illinois Inc. He also led the transformation of the iconic Coca-Cola bottle from glass and was, initially, the drinks giant’s only expert on PET. On the occasion of the company’s anniversary, PETplanet spoke with Marketing Manager Erica Hartmann about PTI’s evolving role in sustainable packaging, its analytical and prototyping services, and the renewed push to showcase its Dromo e-commerce bottle.
Photo top: Dr. Tom Brady, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, at the PTI anniversary
Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, USA and with a facility in Switzerland, PTI has built a reputation as an innovator and developer of leading edge solutions in the PET packaging industry, across food and beverage, personal care and household. It designed the ketchup bottle for Heinz that is now a common sight in food cupboards across the world; Kraft Heinz remains an important client, along with Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mars, Mondelez, SC Johnson, Diageo, Carlsberg and many more. The company works with resin producers, additive suppliers, recyclers and converters, as well as manufacturers. PTI has collaborated with DePoly to create a closed-loop recycled PET bottle; sustainability and the development of products using higher proportions of rPET are a current priority for the company, Marketing Manager Erica Hartmann explained.
Recycling and sustainability
“We are heavily engaged in researching and testing several different types of post-consumer recycled (PCR) resins, in exploring chemical and advanced recycling technologies and analysing how recycled resins compare to virgin materials,” she said. Analysis extends to comparing recycling process chains: curbside against collection, reverse deposit schemes and recovery from general waste collection.
“We have been involved in developing sustainable packaging solutions for years. Dromo, a lightweight e-commerce bottle, uses 75% less material than similar PET bottles.” The 16 fl oz (one US Pint; 443 ml) bottle, which weighs less than 10 g, was first introduced at Pack Expo in 2018 so it is quite well established but Erica says that the time is right to raise its profile and remind the market what a versatile and effective solution it is.
Despite its exceptionally light weight, Dromo is a refillable bottle, designed to be inserted into rigid, reusable containers of the kind typically used for personal care products. As it is squarely aimed at the e-commerce segment, it does not have to meet requirements for on-shelf packaging, which is how the designers to cut out so much weight. The walls are thin but the opposing flat side panels provide sidewall strength and enable stacking, prior to shrink wrapping. The bottles can be sealed with a threaded closure or a foil seal. Lightness does not come at the cost of robust performance; the Dromo bottles comfortably pass burst tests up to 173 psi (just under 12 bar) and drop tests from six feet (183 cm). It can be made with up to 100% PCR.
Small company with a big impact
PTI employs just 65 people across its two locations, so it isn’t a huge producer of preforms or bottles, itself. It collaborates with clients to design and develop packaging solutions that meet their particular needs. At any time, a lot of its ongoing work is confidential, so Erica could not go into details about new launches we could expect to see this year or next but she was able to talk about the capabilities that the company’s two offices have.
“We work with different packaging types, including flexible, thermoform and HDPE packaging, as well as PET, for standard, hot-fill and aseptic applications, and provide testing and validation for all of them. Our analytical services lab is probably the biggest part of our activities. We do a lot of testing to make sure that our clients’ products work right,” said Erica. “We also have a production lab here in Toledo so we have the ability to cut and make injection and blow moulds, internally. So, if a customer needs something for a trial or even a small run, we can do that.” She showed an example of what PTI can do in this context: a wide-mouth bottle, specially produced for the company’s 40th anniversary.
Anniversary bottle
“This started with a drawing on a piece of paper, which our CAD department took forward and developed to something that could be evaluated in our FEA (finite element analysis) capability. We figured it would work, so we cut the moulds and blew the bottle right here,” she said.
The bottle in question features a section of the PTI logo embossed onto the surface, with a green closure and wide opening. It was filled with green M&Ms. Three hundred bottles were made for the 40th anniversary party, held on June 12, and handed to honoured guests as souvenirs. “We aren’t doing Coca-Cola sized production, we aren’t making thousands of bottles a day, but we can undertake a production run to allow brands to get a viable product to use and fill. Choosing the wide mouth format also made clear that we have that capability here.”
Green for go
The choice of green for the closure and the M&Ms was deliberate. PTI makes a point of helping clients to understand sustainable material transitions, the implications of transition and the opportunities, including the provision of analytical services to validate sustainable packaging performance.
“We help clients to better understand environmental packaging footprints and we can demonstrate that sustainable packaging can be used without in any way compromising product safety,” she explained. Transition from one material to another has been a significant element in PTI’s work since it was founded. Customers have come to the company for help and advice on moving from glass to aluminium, to PET and to assess various solutions against each other. “We also offer a lot of training and education. There’s a lot of growth on the horizon for PTI and we’re very excited about it.”
Investing for the future
PTI is so optimistic about growth opportunities that it has invested in three new machines. “We have a Sipa SFL Flex, which is the only one of its type in the USA and is what we used to produce our anniversary bottles,” said Erica. “We have a Sipa SP80, which is brand new and just being fully set up although we were able to undertake our first run HDPE items on that, during our 40th anniversary event. We can also run PET and PP materials on this machine, and our moulds and products on Husky and Sidel, of course.”
PTI has come a long way in the 40 years since it was founded. It has built itself and its reputation on providing advanced and innovative solutions that the market is seeking and being able to become involved at any point in the production process. The company will have a presence at this year’s drinktec but not in the form of a booth or stand. Representatives from the Swiss facility will be there, meeting existing clients and building new relationships.
“A lot of people know us only for small parts of what we do; maybe they know us for our analytical lab, or for validation, or for preform design but PTI is really a full-service partner,” she concluded. “We look back on 40 years but we are really excited about how we will continue to grow within the industry.”